All HL honors

[Big D]

Horizon League Announces Men's Basketball All-League Teams and Specialty Award Winners
Feb. 26, 2007

INDIANAPOLIS -- Wright State University senior guard DaShaun Wood gained top honors as the Horizon League announced its men's basketball All-League Teams and specialty award winners Monday (Feb. 26). Wood was named the League Player of the Year, becoming the first player in Raider history to achieve that honor after leading Wright State to the top seed in this week's League Championship.

Regular-season co-champion and 15th-ranked Butler University took the other two main awards, as coach Todd Lickliter garnered Coach of the Year recognition and junior guard Mike Green was tabbed as the League's Newcomer of the Year. All three honors are the result of voting by League head coaches and sports information directors plus selected media representatives from throughout the League.

Wood led the Raiders to a share of the League's regular-season championship (13-3 in loop play) for the first time in WSU's 13-year tenure in the circuit. He averaged a League-best 19.4 points per game in pacing Wright State to a 21-9 overall record that includes the most victories since the program moved to Division I in 1987-88. The senior from Detroit scored 20 or more points 14 times this winter, including a season-high 32 versus Loyola University Chicago on Jan. 10, and 30 in the Raiders' victory over then-ninth-ranked Butler exactly one month later. Wood also leads the League with a rate of 1.90 steals per contest and is fifth with 3.83 assists per outing.

Lickliter won the coaching accolade for the second consecutive year after directing BU to a 13-3 League record as regular-season League co-champions. Lickliter's Bulldogs set a League record with 26 regular-season victories, entering this week's Championship at 26-5 overall after starting the season as the sixth pick in the circuit's preseason poll. Butler's ledger includes the NIT Season Tip-Off title, with triumphs over Indiana University, the University of Notre Dame, the University of Tennessee, and Gonzaga University. Lickliter is the first coach to win back-to-back Coach of the Year honors since the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee's Bruce Pearl in 2001-02 and 2002-03. Ironically, Pearl's current team, Tennessee, was one of Butler's NIT victims in November.

Green has been the floor leader for the Butler team which reached the top ten in the ESPN/USA Today national poll earlier this month. The versatile guard, a transfer from Towson University, ranks 11th on the League charts in scoring (14.5 points per game) and rebounding (5.7 caroms per contest), while his 4.00 assists-per-game norm is third in that category. He has scored at least 13 points in 11 consecutive games entering the tournament, including three with at least 20 markers during that span.

Wood leads the five-player First-Team All-League squad, along with Butler junior guard A.J. Graves, Loyola senior guard Blake Schilb, senior guard Quin Humphrey of Youngstown State University and junior forward Othyus Jeffers of the University of Illinois at Chicago. Wood, Schilb and Humphrey are all repeat selections to the First-Team unit, with Schilb becoming the 11th three-time First-Teamer in League history. He also gained that notice as a sophomore in 2004-05.

Graves was the Most Valuable Player in the NIT Season Tip-Off, paving the way for the Bulldogs' success during the regular season. Graves ranks fourth in the League with a 17.3 points-per-game scoring average, including a loop-leading .954 free-throw percentage (125-of-131). He also has a circuit-best 88 three-point field goals this season, hitting 36.5 percent from behind the arc.

Schilb ranks among the League's top ten in eight different statistical categories, leading the Ramblers with his 16.1 points per game to stand fifth on the loop scoring charts. The League's Preseason Player of the Year, he also ranks second with a rate of 4.21 assists per contests, while his .861 free-throw accuracy is fourth-best in the League, and his norm of 1.31 steals per outing is seventh.

Humphrey has scored 30 or more points three times this season---including 35 in the Penguins' 72-57 victory over top-seeded Wright State last Thursday---and ranks second in the League at 19.1 points per contest. He also is the loop's third-leading rebounder, collecting 7.2 caroms per contest while standing fourth with 1.41 steals per game. His 60 three-point field goals are fourth-best in that department.

Jeffers boasts ten point-rebound "double-doubles" for the Flames, standing second in the League with a rate of 8.9 rebounds per contest. He finished the regular season at 15.7 points per game (ninth-best in the League) and is sixth in field-goal accuracy (.474) and second with 3.37 offensive rebounds per game. The versatile performer also handed out an average of 2.60 assists per game to rank among the League leaders and was third wtih 1.57 steals per contest.

The Second-Team All-League squad includes University of Detroit Mercy junior guard Brandon Cotton, who landed on the second unit for the third consecutive year. University of Wisconsin-Green Bay senior guard Ryan Evanochko was also a repeat selection on the Second Team, joining Green, UW-Green Bay sophomore forward Mike Schachtner, and Detroit senior center Ryvon Covile. The Titan center leads the circuit with 16 double-doubles and ranks among the national leaders with 10.8 rebounds per game.

Joining Green on the All-Newcomer Team are junior forward teammate Pete Campbell, UW-Milwaukee junior forward Paige Paulsen and the Wright State tandem of freshman guards Todd Brown and Vaughn Duggins. Campbell's current .519 mark from three-point range would set a Horizon League record, and includes a .581 mark in loop play. Paulsen averages 11.1 points and 5.8 rebounds per game, while Brown and Duggins combine for 18 points per outing.

The five-member All-Defensive Team, selected by the League's nine head coaches, features Wood and Covile, plus UIC sophomore center Scott VanderMeer, UW-Green Bay sophomore forward Terry Evans and Loyola senior guard Majak Kou. Wood, Evans, and Kou are repeat selections, with Evans averaging 1.27 blocked shots and 1.73 steals per game for the Phoenix. Kou provides the Ramblers with 1.14 steals and 0.90 blocks from the perimeter, while VanderMeer has already set a League record with 105 blocks (3.50 per game) during the regular season.

The 2007 Horizon League Men's Basketball Championship begins Tuesday (Feb. 27) with first-round games at campus sites. From there, action moves to Dayton, Ohio, and Wright State's Ervin J. Nutter Center for second-round games on Friday (Mar. 2) and semifinals on Saturday (Mar. 3), with Saturday's doubleheader slated for a national audience via ESPNU. The higher-remaining seed after Saturday earns the right to host the championship game next Tuesday (Mar. 6). The Horizon League's automatic entry into the NCAA Tournament is on the line in that (9 p.m. Eastern time) contest, which airs live on ESPN.

2006-07 Horizon League All-League Men's Basketball Teams
(listed alphabetically by school)

All-League First-Team

Player, School (Ht., Yr., Pos)
A.J. Graves, Butler (6-1, Jr., G)
Othyus Jeffers, UIC (6-5, Jr., F)
Blake Schilb, Loyola (6-7, Sr., G)
DaShaun Wood, Wright State (5-11, Sr., G)
Quin Humphrey, Youngstown State (6-4, Sr., G)

All-League Second-Team

Mike Green, Butler (6-0, Jr., G)
Brandon Cotton, Detroit (6-0, Jr., G)
Ryvon Covile, Detroit (6-9, Sr., C)
Ryan Evanochko, UW-Green Bay (6-2, Sr., G)
Mike Schachtner, UW-Green Bay (6-9, So., F)

All-Newcomer Team
Pete Campbell, Butler (6-7, Jr., F)
Mike Green, Butler (6-0, Jr., G)
Paige Paulsen, UW-Milwaukee (6-7, Jr. ,F)
Todd Brown, Wright State (6-5, Fr., G)
Vaughn Duggins, Wright State (6-3, Fr., G)

All-Defensive Team
Ryvon Covile, Detroit (6-9, Sr., C)
Scott VanderMeer, UIC (6-11, So., C)
Majak Kou, Loyola (6-5, Sr., G)
Terry Evans, UW-Green Bay (6-5, So., F)
DaShaun Wood, Wright State (5-11, Sr., G)

Player of the Year: DaShaun Wood, Wright State
Newcomer of the Year: Mike Green, Butler
Coach of the Year: Todd Lickliter, Butler

Note: All-League and All-Newcomer awards are voted upon by Horizon League head coaches and sports information directors plus selected media that cover the League; The All-Defensive Team is selected by head coaches only.

horizonleague.cstv.com/sports/m-baskbl/spec-rel/022607aab.html

[Retired Coach]

Three Raiders Receive All-Horizon League Honors
Feb. 26, 2007

INDIANAPOLIS - Three Wright State men's basketball players were honored as the Horizon League announced its postseason awards on Monday. Senior guard DaShaun Wood was voted the Horizon League's Player of the Year and was also selected to the All-Defensive Team while freshmen Vaughn Duggins and Todd Brown were each named to the All-Newcomer Team.

In a vote by media, sports information directors and head coaches, Wood, a candidate for the Frances Pomeroy Naismith Award for the best collegiate player under six foot, was chosen as the Player of the Year after averaging 19.4 points to lead the League in scoring. The 5-11 guard also was among the nation's leaders in free throw percentage (88.8%), steals (1.9 per game) and points per game. The Detroit native scored more than 30 points three times this season, including 30 points against nationally-ranked Butler on February 10, and has scored in double figures in 42 straight contests.

Wood joins WSU all-time scoring and rebounding leader Bill Edwards as the lone recipients of this type of honor as Edwards was named the Mid-Continent Player of the Year in 1993. He was also named the League's Player of the Week three different times this year and was named to the Hispanic College Fund Classic All-Tournament Team hosted by LSU in December.

Wood was also named for the second straight year to the League's Defensive Team as he led the conference in steals and ranked 17th in rebounding. The All-Defensive Team is voted on only by the nine head coaches in the League.

Duggins, a Pendleton, Indiana native, averaged 9.1 points per game while Brown, from Canton, Ohio, averaged 8.9 points through the season. The duo ranked second and third in threes made, behind Wood. Duggins was second on the team in minutes, assists and steals and was tied for ninth in the League in three-point percentage during conference play along with being ranked 11th in assists per game. Brown was 11th in three-point percentage during conference play, 12th in field goal percentage and 19th in scoring during conference play and 12th in field goal percentage.

With the two this season, Wright State has now had 12 All-Newcomer honorees since joining the Horizon League (Midwestern Collegiate Conference) in 1995.

The Raiders ended the regular-season with a 21-9 record, tying the 1989-90 squad (21-7) for the most wins since WSU joined the NCAA Division I ranks in the 1987-88 season. The co-Champion title was the first conference crown for any Raider basketball team.

By virtue of tie breakers, the Raiders will host the Horizon League Tournament Friday and Saturday night. Wright State plays in the semifinals on Saturday, March 3, at 7 pm. The game can be seen live on ESPNU and heard with Chris Collins and Bob Grote on WONE, 980 AM, WIZE, 1340 AM, and at wsuraiders.com.

For more information, go to horizonleague.org.

2006-07 Men's Basketball All-Horizon League Teams

First Team
DaShaun Wood, Sr., G, Wright State
A.J. Graves, Jr., G, Butler
Blake Schilb, Sr., G, Loyola
Quin Humphrey, Sr., G, Youngstown State
Othyus Jeffers, Jr., F, UIC

Second Team
Mike Green, Jr., G, Butler
Brandon Cotton, Sr., G, Detroit
Ryvon Covile, Sr., C, Detroit
Ryan Evanochko, Sr., G, UW-Green Bay
Mike Schachner, So., F, UW-Green Bay

All-Newcomer Team
Pete Campbell, So., F, Butler
Mike Green, Jr., G, Butler
Paige Paulsen, Jr., F, UW-Milwaukee
Todd Brown, Fr., G, Wright State
Vaughn Duggins, Fr., G, Wright State

All-Defensive Team
Ryvon Covile, Sr., C, Detroit
Majak Kou, Sr., G, Loyola
Scott VanderMeer, So., C, UIC
Terry Evans, So., F, UW-Green Bay
DaShaun Wood, Sr., G, Wright State

Player of the Year: DaShaun Wood, Sr., G, Wright State
Newcomer of the Year: Mike Green, Jr., G, Butler
Coach of the Year: Todd Lickliter, Butler

wsuraiders.cstv.com/sports/m-baskbl/spec-rel/022607aaa.html

[wsu97]

Congratulations Raiders!

[Nutt House]

Todd and Vaughn were the only freshmen on the all newcomer team.

[Raider Country]

Wood garners Horizon League's top honor
Wright State senior guard is named the player of the year, but has a bigger goal of reaching the NCAA tournament.

By Marc Katz

Staff Writer

Tuesday, February 27, 2007

FAIRBORN — There was no big team announcement, no day off from workouts, not even any cake and ice cream to celebrate.

"Congratulations," a couple of assistant basketball coaches said to DaShaun Wood, Vaughn Duggins and Todd Brown on Monday afternoon when they arrived at the Setzer Pavilion for practice.

The three players from the Wright State Horizon League regular-season champions already knew, of course. Someone called Wood's cell phone shortly after the 10 a.m. announcement that he was the Horizon League Player of the Year, as well as a member of the all-defensive team.

Wood, a 5-foot-11 senior, relayed the message to Duggins, who along with fellow freshman Brown, made the all-newcomer team.

"I found out from DaShaun at breakfast before class," Duggins said. "He said, 'Congratulations.' I said, 'For what?' "

All three players shrugged off their honors, invoking instead a need to win two Horizon League tournament games at the Nutter Center — Saturday and next Tuesday — to secure an NCAA tournament bid.

"When you finish in first, individual awards will come," Wood said. "I wanted to win the regular-season championship more than anything. Just like I want to go to the NCAA more than winning that award. It was a great accomplishment (player of the year). It will be even greater if we can get to the NCAA tournament.

"I'm happy with it, but I'm not satisfied. I didn't want the attention to be on me. It's no big deal. We've got bigger things in mind."

Coach Brad Brownell said, "In his senior year, (Wood) was able to play well and lead his team to a championship. He's very deserving."

As for Duggins and Brown, "When you win, if people are looking at things correctly, they don't look just at stats. Winning is a big stat. Our two freshmen don't have gaudy numbers, but Vaughn was incredibly consistent, and Todd was a guy who really developed and played his best basketball during the conference season. Both those guys are very deserving," Brownell said.


www.daytondailynews.com/s/content/oh/story/sports/college/wsu/2007/02/26/ddn022707wsubb.html

[Willie]

Congratulations Dashaun, Todd, and Vaughn.